Blog Action Day - Discussing Poverty & the Poor

"Remember the poor, it costs nothing" -- Josh Billings

... For 60 days I've been posting money quotations on Poverty and the Poor in preparation for this one day - Blog Action Day - Poverty - where over 9000 bloggers have agreed to discuss, explore and seek solutions to poverty. (Even the MySpace Impact Channel got into the Poverty conversation on their blog

My decision to support #BAD08, as it's come to be called on Twitter, was out of a desire to continue expanding my collection of Money Quotes on this blog. But, inevitably I got more interested in the topic and in learning something about Poverty - through words - but not just blather, these are some of the most powerful words ever uttered about the Poor and Poverty.

In the two months since I started collecting and posting quotations, I found over 150 Poverty Quotes in the larger collection of quotes on the poor, Here are a dozen to get you started.

1. Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank said, "One day our grandchildren will go to museums to see what poverty was like" and truly believes we can cut global Poverty in HALF by 2015!
2. Most powerful quote on poverty from a politician IMHO was Dwight D. Eisenhower, who said in 1953, "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed"
3. Many politicians, as a matter of fact, had something to say of poverty - from Thomas Jefferson, "Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor"
4. To Ronald Reagan, "Poverty is a career for lot's of well paid people"
5. There are those who devote their lives to the poor, "There is hunger for ordinary bread, and there is hunger for love, for kindness, for thoughtfulness; and this is the great poverty that makes people suffer so much" -- Mother Teresa
6. There are those who poke fun at poverty, "Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons." -- Woody Allen
7. Some believe it's sometimes better to be poor, "Satan is wiser now than before, and tempts by making rich instead of poor" -- Alexander Pope
8. Some flatly state the obvious, "I've been rich and I've been poor: Rich is better." -- Sophie Tucker
9. And even more obvious, "A rich man is nothing but a poor man with money." -- W.C. Fields
10. Some point out misconceptions "Literary tradition is full of lies about poverty—the jolly beggar, the poor but happy milkmaid, the wholesome diet of porridge, etc." -- Mason Cooley
11. There is the frightening commentary from Colin Powell, "Terrorism really flourishes in areas of poverty, despair and hopelessness, where people see no future"
12. And in the end, it really doesn't matter whether we are rich or poor, "Pale death with an impartial foot knocks at the hovels of the poor and the palaces of king" -- Horace

Blog Action Day 2008 Poverty from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.

Join the discussion, but don't stop there, decide to take action to end poverty, consider donating your day's earnings to the poor.

Man Who Makes Acquisitive Realize How Poor They Are

"Some day you will meet a man who cares for none of these things. Then you will know how poor you are." -- Rudyard Kipling

Politicians Subsidize Poverty & Failure Through Taxes

"The politicians don't just want your money. They want your soul. They want you to be worn down by taxes until you are dependent and helpless. When you subsidize poverty and failure, you get more of both" -- James Dale Davidson

Poor Can Create Poverty-Free World if Unchained

"The poor themselves can create a poverty-free world ... all we have to do is to free them from the chains that we have put around them" -- Muhammad Yunus

Our Economic & Social Institutions Created Poverty

"Poverty has been created by the economic and social system that we have designed for the world. It is the institutions that we have built and feel so proud of, which created poverty" -- Muhammad Yunus

We Can Create a Poverty Free World if We Want To

"I have come to believe, deeply and firmly, that we can create a poverty free world if we want to. I came to this conclusion not as a product of a pious dream, but as a concrete result of experience gained in the work of the Grameen Bank" -- Muhammad Yunus

Belief in Poverty Perpetuates Poverty: Choose Prosperity

"If we had believed that poverty is unacceptable to us, and that it should not belong to a civilized society, we would have created appropriate institutions and policies to create a poverty-free world" -- Muhammad Yunus

Search for Poor Entrepreneurs Banking Challenge

"I did something that challenged the banking world. Conventional banks look for the rich; we look for the absolutely poor. All people are entrepreneurs, but many don't have the opportunity to find that out" -- Muhammad Yunus

One Day Poverty Will Exist Only in Museums

"One day our grandchildren will go to museums to see what poverty was like" -- Muhammad Yunus

Make Game of Earning Money or Be Bound & Shackled

"We need to make a game out of earning money. There is so much good we can do with money. Without it, we are bound and shackled and our choices become limited" -- Bob Proctor

People of Poverty Who are Fun at the End of the Day

"In Africa, we were around thousands of people who have seen a lot of poverty, but they were fun at the end of the day" -- Angelina Jolie

Scarcity in Midst of Plenty, Skills Unused:Friedman

"My major problem with the world is a problem of scarcity in the midst of plenty ... of people starving while there are unused resources ... people having skills which are not being used" -- Milton Friedman

Fortunes Contentment as Poverty Reduces Expectations

"Thank God for poverty
That makes and keeps us free
And lets us go our unobtrusive way,
Glad of the sun and rain,
Upright, serene, humane,
Contented with the fortune of a day."
- William Bliss Carman,
The Word at Saint Kavin's

Poverty Reduces a Man's Responsibility to God

"In one important respect a man is fortunate in being poor. His responsibility to God is so much the less" -- Christian Nestell Bovee

Rich Wonder Why Poor Don't Ring the Dinner Bell

"Poverty is an anomaly to rich people; it is very difficult to make out why people who want dinner do not ring the bell" -- Walter Bagehot

Poverty Thwarts Men of Quality From Rising: Juvenal

"It is not easy for men to rise whose qualities are thwarted by poverty" -- Juvenal

Fear of Old Age Often a Fear of Poverty

“The most common cause of fear of old age is associated with the possibility of poverty” -- Napoleon Hill

A Man Isn't Poor If He Can Laugh: Raymond HItchcock

“A man isn't poor if he can still laugh.” -- Raymond Hitchcock

Poverty is Only Contemptible When You Make It So

"Poverty is only contemptible when it is felt to be so. Doubtless the best way to make our poverty respectable is to seem never to feel it as an evil" -- Christian Nestell Bovee

Poor Man Is Without A Dream Not One Lacking Money

“The poor man is not he who is without a cent, but he who is without a dream” -- Harry Kemp

Poor Parents Will Not Be Declared Insane By Children

“Another good thing about being poor is that when you are seventy your children will not have declared you legally insane in order to gain control of your estate” -- Woody Allen

Real poverty is lack of books: Sidonie Gabrielle

“Real poverty is lack of books” -- Sidonie Gabrielle

Love Conquers All But Poverty & Toothache: Mae West

“Love conquers all things except poverty and toothache” -- Mae West

Laziness is Soon Overtaken by Poverty: Ben Franklin

“Laziness travels so slowly that poverty soon overtakes him” -- Benjamin Franklin

Poverty is Not a Statistical Issue, But a Human Issue

"The issue of poverty is not a statistical issue. It is a human issue" -- James Wolfensohn

When The Rich Make War, It's The Poor That Die: Sartre

"When the rich make war, it's the poor that die" -- Jean-Paul Sartre

36 Million Americans Live in Poverty: John Edwards

"I believe it is wrong, in a country of such wealth and prosperity, to have 36 million Americans living in poverty." -- John Edwards

There Was Never a War on Poverty, a Skirmish Maybe

"There was never a war on poverty. Maybe there was a skirmish on poverty" -- Andrew Cuomo

Poverty is Everyone's Problem: Gov. Kathleen Blanco

"Poverty is everyone's problem. It cuts across any line you can name: age, race, social, geographic or religious. Whether you are black or white; rich, middle-class or poor, we are ALL touched by poverty" -- Kathleen Blanco

Poverty Often Deprives a Man of all Spirit & Virtue

"Poverty often deprives a man of all spirit and virtue; it is hard for an empty bag to stand upright" -- Benjamin Franklin

Liberalism means Emancipation From Poverty

"Liberalism, above all, means emancipation - emancipation from one's fears, his inadequacies, from prejudice, from discrimination, from poverty" -- Hubert H. Humphrey

Poverty is Worst of Evils & Strikes Dead Our Souls

"Poverty blights whole cities; spreads horrible pestilences; strikes dead the very souls of all who come within sight, sound, or smell of it" -- George Bernard Shaw

Poverty a Career for Well Paid People: Ronald Reagan

"Poverty is a career for lot's of well paid people" -- Ronald Reagan

From Nothing to Extreme Poverty: Groucho Marx

"I worked my way up from nothing to a state of extreme poverty." -- Groucho Marx

Social Ostracism & Invasion of Privacy: Pain of Poverty

"Poverty is relative, and the lack of food and of the necessities of life is not necessarily a hardship. Spiritual and social ostracism, the invasion of your privacy, are what constitute the pain of poverty" -- Alice Foote MacDougall

Lies About Poverty: Jolly Beggar, Happy Milkmaid...

"Literary tradition is full of lies about poverty—the jolly beggar, the poor but happy milkmaid, the wholesome diet of porridge, etc." -- Mason Cooley

Shakespeare on Beggars & The Rich in King John

"Well, whiles I am a beggar, I will rail,

And say there is no sin but to be rich;

And being rich, my virtue then shall be

To say there is no vice but beggary"

-- Shakespeare: King John

Borrowing Only Slows Disease of Money Consumption

"I can get no remedy against this consumption of the purse: borrowing only lingers and lingers it out, but the disease is incurable" -- Shakespeare: 2 Henry IV

Every Dollar Spent on War Robs The Poor: Eisenhower

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed" -- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Talent Stimulated by Poverty is Rare

"For every talent that poverty has stimulated it has blighted a hundred" -- John Gardner

Every Man Has the Right to Be Poor: Richard Jefferies

"Every man has a right to be poor" -- Richard Jefferies

Poor Should Get The Money Spent Studying Poverty

"It would be nice if the poor were to get even half of the money that is spent in studying them" -- Bill Vaughan

Poor Should Get The Money Spent Studying Poverty

"It would be nice if the poor were to get even half of the money that is spent in studying them" -- Bill Vaughan

Wars Against Poverty are Fought to Map Change

"Wars against nations are fought to change maps; wars against poverty are fought to map change" -- Muhammad Ali

Terrorism Flourishes in Areas of Poverty: Colin Powell

"Terrorism really flourishes in areas of poverty, despair and hopelessness, where people see no future" -- Colin Powell

Poverty Can Be Eradicated by Action: Nelson Mandela

"Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings" -- Nelson Mandela

Overcoming Poverty is an Act of Justice: Nelson Mandela

"Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice" -- Nelson Mandela

Poverty is Evil When There is Plenty: Kennedy

"I believe that, as long as there is plenty, poverty is evil" -- Robert Kennedy

Poverty No Disgrace, But Always Inconvenient

"Poverty is no disgrace to a man, but it is confoundedly inconvenient" -- Sydney Smith

Poverty is the Worst Form of Violence: Gandhi

"Poverty is the worst form of violence." Gandhi

Security Cannot Exist Where Poverty Hangs Over Heads

"Security, the chief pretense of civilization, cannot exist where the worst of dangers, the danger of poverty, hangs over everyone's head" -- George Bernard Shaw

Poverty is the Greatest Evil & the Worst Crime

"The greatest of evils and the worst of crimes is poverty" -- George Bernard Shaw

"Poverty is like Punishment for crime Not Commited

"Poverty is like punishment for a crime you didn't commit" -- Eli Khamaro

Poverty is the Mother of Crime: Marcus Aurelius

"Poverty is the mother of crime" -- Marcus Aurelius

Almsgiving Perpetuates Poverty, Aid Resolves Poverty

"Almsgiving tends to perpetuate poverty; aid does away with it once and for all" -- Eva Perón

Poverty Not Solved by Giving Money: P.J. O'Rourke

"You can't get rid of poverty by giving people money" -- P.J. O'Rourke

Problem with Poverty is Consumption of Time

"The trouble with being poor is that it takes up all your time" -- Willem de Kooning

Poverty Rocks the Cradle To Manhood for Great Men

"Poverty sits by the cradle of all our great men and rocks all of them to manhood" -- Heinrich Heine

Empty Hearts & Minds Worse Than Empty Pockets

"Empty pockets never held anyone back. Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that" -- Norman Vincent Peale

Misery of Poor Caused by Institutions are a Great Sin

"If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin" -- Charles Darwin

True Poverty is Want of Superfluities Not Necessities

"Nature makes us poor only when we want necessaries, but custom gives the name of poverty to the want of superfluities" -- Samuel Johnson

Adversity & Privation are Greatest Teachers

"Prosperity is a great teacher; adversity is a greater. Possession pampers the mind; privation trains and strengthens it" -- William Hazlitt

Money Spent Teaching Better than Mere Giving

"Time and money spent in helping men to do more for themselves is far better than mere giving" -- Henry Ford

Resolve Not to be Poor: Poverty an Enemy of Happiness

"Resolve not to be poor: whatever you have, spend less. Poverty is a great enemy to human happiness; it certainly destroys liberty, and it makes some virtues impracticable, and others extremely difficult" -- Samuel Johnson

Friends More Valuable Capital Than Money

"No young man starting in life could have better capital than plenty of friends. They will strengthen his credit, support him in every great effort, and make him what, unaided, he could never be. Friends of the right sort will help him more -- to be happy and successful -- than much money..." -- Orison Swett Marden

Passion for Money is Miser's Cause, Not a Thief's

"Want of money and the distress of a thief can never be alleged as the cause of his thieving, for many honest people endure greater hardships with fortitude. We must therefore seek the cause elsewhere than in want of money, for that is the miser's passion, not the thief's" -- William Blake

Lack of Sense and Poverty are Parents of Crime

"If poverty is the mother of crime, lack of good sense is the father" -- Jean de la Bruyère

Solve a Crime by Following the Money: Seneca

"He has committed the crime who profits by it" -- Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Rich Sin To Keep Wealth - Poor Accused More Often

"Great abundance of riches cannot be gathered and kept by any man without sin" -- Desiderius Erasmus

Poverty Has No Power over Rich Hearts & Minds

"What power can poverty have over a home where loving hearts are beating with a consciousness of untold riches of the head and heart?" -- Orison Swett Marden

Neither Poverty Nor Riches Will Hear Reason

"Neither great poverty nor great riches will hear reason" -- Henry Fielding

Rich Refuse to Get Off Backs of Poor: Karl Marx

"The rich will do anything for the poor but get off their backs" -- Karl Marx

Content Makes Poor Men Rich: Franklin

"Content makes poor men rich; discontentment makes rich men poor" -- Benjamin Franklin

Pride Costs More than Hunger, Thirst and Cold

"Pride costs more than hunger, thirst and cold" -- Thomas Jefferson

Remember the Poor, it Costs Nothing: Josh Billings

"Remember the poor, it costs nothing" -- Josh Billings

Poor Villains Name their Price of Rich Villains

"When rich villains have need of poor ones, poor ones may make what price they will" -- William Shakespeare

Poor Wrongly Judged as Lacking Ambition

"We have grown literally afraid to be poor. We despise anyone who elects to be poor in order to simplify and save his inner life. If he does not join the general scramble and pant with the money-making street, we deem him spiritless and lacking in ambition" -- William James

Nobody Can Love Their Neighbor on an Empty Stomach

"No man can worship God or love his neighbor on an empty stomach" -- Woodrow Wilson

An Empty Stomach is not a Good Political Advisor: Einstein

"An empty stomach is not a good political advisor" -- Albert Einstein

Safer to Beg but Finer to Take: Oscar Wilde

"As for begging, it is safer to beg than to take, but it is finer to take than to beg" -- Oscar Wilde

Having No Office to Go To is an Impossible Trial

"A man who has no office to go to -- I don't care who he is -- is a trial of which you can have no conception." -- George Bernard Shaw

Democracy Depends Upon Full Employment

"Not only our future economic soundness but the very soundness of our democratic institutions depends on the determination of our government to give employment to idle men" -- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Hide Poverty from Others, Idleness from Self

"To be idle and to be poor have always been reproaches, and therefore every man endeavors with his utmost care to hide his poverty from others, and his idleness from himself" -- Samuel Johnson

Life Stolen If Means of Making a Living Taken Away

"You take my life when you do take the means whereby I live" -- William Shakespeare

Unemployment for Those Willing to Work is Inequality

"A man willing to work and unable to find work is perhaps the saddest sight that fortunes inequality exhibits under this sun" -- Thomas Carlyle

Four Specters Haunt the Poor: Among Them Unemployment

"Four specters haunt the poor -- old age, accident, sickness and unemployment" -- David Lloyd George

The Great Poverty is the Hunger for Love: Mother Teresa

"There is hunger for ordinary bread, and there is hunger for love, for kindness, for thoughtfulness; and this is the great poverty that makes people suffer so much" -- Mother Teresa

Dictatorships are Made of Hunger & Unemployment

"People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made" -- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Individual Freedom Requires Economic Security

"True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence" -- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Rich are Proud, Poor are Hungry: Jonathan Swift

"Poor nations are hungry and rich nations are proud; and pride and hunger will ever be at variance" -- Jonathan Swift

Don't Merely Make a Living, Enable Greater Vision

"You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement" -- Woodrow T. Wilson

Purpose is to Enrich The World or be Impoverished

"You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand" -- Woodrow T. Wilson

Without a Rich Heart, Wealth an Ugly Beggar: Emerson

"Without a rich heart, wealth is an ugly beggar" -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Poor & Needy Helped by Love, Not Money: St Augustine

"What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like" -- Saint Augustine

Difference Between Rich & Poor Illuminated by Hunger

"When a man's stomach is full it makes no difference whether he is rich or poor" -- Euripides

Best Time to Be Rich or Poor is When You Are Young

"Youth is the best time to be rich, and the best time to be poor" -- Euripides

Cities Always Divided into Rich & Poor & are at War

"Any city however small, is in fact divided into two, one the city of the poor, the other of the rich. These are at war with one another" -- Plato

Before Decrying The Rich, Consider Job Sources

"Don't knock the rich. When did a poor person give you a job?" -- Laurence J. Peter

Happiness of the Poor: Physical Labor Eases the Mind

"Bodily labor alleviates the pains of the mind and from this arises the happiness of the poor" -- François de La Rochefoucauld

Poor Imagine, Through Entertainment, What Rich Live

"The pleasures of the imagination are as it were only drawings and models which are played with by poor people who cannot afford the real thing" -- Georg C. Lichtenberg